


Red Wings

by Cowboy_Sneep_Dip



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: Angst, Canon-Typical Violence, Drama, F/F, Fire Emblem Fates: Conquest Spoilers, Hurt/Comfort, Intrigue, Nohr | Conquest Route, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Short-haired Flying Lesbians, Unresolved Emotional Tension
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-17
Updated: 2017-12-27
Packaged: 2019-02-16 02:42:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,124
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13044837
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cowboy_Sneep_Dip/pseuds/Cowboy_Sneep_Dip
Summary: Hinoka, following her capture by the Nohrian border patrol, finds herself embroiled in the political intrigue and subterfuge of the Chevois resistance group. She lends aid in a desire to strike back at the Nohrian army, but quickly realizes that her draw is not just revenge, but the affection of a certain spunky wyvern rider.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I do feel a little obligated to mention that the unresolved tension tagged above is Hinoka/Corrin related, so if that's the sort of thing that bothers you, you might wanna pass on this one! It's mentioned briefly and in a negative light, but it informs both the way in which Hinoka interacts with Corrin and also the way in which she regards the Nohrian people, which are going to be two key elements in this story.

Hinoka rolled onto her back and slipped an open palm inside her jacket. Wet. She groaned and withdrew her hand, grimacing at the sticky red. She stared up at the trees above her. Beyond that, the night sky was dotted with dim, distant stars.

Ryoma had warned her this would happen. Time and time again. Her recklessness was going to get her into trouble one day.

Her skull ached, no doubt from the collision with the hard dirt underneath her. She hoped her pegasus had at least managed to flee out of range of the archers. She heard footsteps approaching from somewhere and tried to push herself to her knees.

She licked her dry lips and spit into the dirt. Clear, not bloody. That was a good sign. She slumped back on her knees, pain shooting through her torso as she did. Her whole body ached, too much for her to really take stock of her wounds beyond the blood dripping from the bottom of her jacket.

She steadied herself by placing her fingertips in the dirt for balance.

Ryoma would be angry, of course. He always was when she did this. Usually it worked for the best, but perhaps her luck had finally run out.

She brushed her bangs out of her eyes.

“Over here! She’s this way!”

She closed her eyes. The harsh voices were speaking Nohrian, of course. She lifted her hands slowly as a band of soldiers emerged from the bushes around her, thrusting the points of blades in her general direction. They formed a circle around her, each weapon only inches from her flesh. Their voices overlapped, the low growls and muttered words blending into each other as she tried to parse the foreign dialect.

She was well accustomed to standard Nohrian and quite fluent, but here in the border towns even the slightest accent or strange vernacular could throw her off. Eyes remaining closed, she raised her hands higher.

She muttered something harsh in Hoshidan, praying none of the men understood.

A figure emerged from the underbrush and stood behind her, gruff tones commanding the other men to lower their weapons.

“Do you understand me?” the man asked. Clear, formal language.

Hinoka nodded.

“Do you speak Nohrian?”

“Yes,” she said hoarsely.

She felt a heavy thump collide with the back of her skull and the world turned black.

 

-

 

Hinoka sat cross-legged in her cell, meditating. Or rather, trying to meditate. She had been practicing with Sakura, but she hadn’t quite got the hang of it. She slowed her breathing, inhaling and exhaling with deliberant mindfulness. She could smell the mustiness of the cell, feel the cold breeze through her window. Her mouth still tasted coppery. They hadn’t given her any water yet. She licked her lips.

She had known it was a mistake halfway through her assault. The border guard was well-fortified, mostly heavily armored brutes and strong cavalry. She had tried circling around to flank them, only to realize too late that the armor was a wall protecting a line of archers hidden in the forest.

The first arrow slashed her arm, a bloody but ultimately superficial wound. The second embedded itself in her side, under her jacket. It had been enough to knock her off-balance, and thus…she opened her eyes.

Tsubaki had warned her against it. He had been shouting something, possibly a warning about the archers. She had ignored him, as usual. She had ignored Ryoma, as usual. She could hear his voice now.

Brash.

Hot-headed.

Reckless.

Stupid.

She sighed. Wasn’t meditation supposed to be relaxing? I guess that was only when you cleared your mind. So pretty much the opposite of what she was doing now.

The door rattled and she looked up expectantly. Food would be welcome, or water. Hell, bandages and medicine would be nice before her wound got infected. She had stripped her bloody jacket and hung it in the window, but her dress still retained a nasty tear and a dark red stain overtop a nasty patch of torn flesh.

She closed her eyes, maintaining her composure. She touched the hard floor of her cell with her fingertips, grounding herself. She could feel the other presence in the cell with her. She opened her eyes.

 

-

 

“Big sister, wait up!” the high-pitched voice cried out behind her, gaining on her slowly but steadily. Hinoka huffed and puffed, springing with her might up the forested trail, dodging outcropping rocks and roots, ducking under trees and darting through bushes.

She laughed, her voice clear and happy.

“Big sister!”

“You gotta catch me!” she taunted, sliding her boots across the dusty trail. She turned the slide into a skip, then a jump, catching herself on a rocky ledge and hauling herself up it. She turned, looking down at her pursuer.

Dark red eyes looked out from a head of wild white hair sticking out in all directions. The young boy was short, a little too thin, with a navy blue cloak flapping behind him. He was a few years younger than Hinoka, which probably put him at around six or seven, though she didn’t know for sure.

“Come on, Kamui! You can do it!” She smiled, leaning over the ledge. “Jump!”

Kamui pouted, digging his bare feet into the dirt. “I’m not as tall as you! You know I can’t do it!”

She laid down on the rock and dropped her hands. “I’ll catch you! Come on!”

He looked at her, his red eyes wide and uncertain.

“Trust me!” she said. “I won’t let you fall. I promise.”

He nodded. Using a smaller rock as a springboard, he leapt into the air towards her. She reached out and grasped his outstretched hands with her own, swinging him down against the rock. He braced his feet against the cliff face and made his way up, bolstered by his big sister’s strong, lean arms. She hauled him up over the edge and the two laid together for a moment, basking in the mid-morning sun.

“I told you you could do it,” Hinoka said.

“Only because you helped me!”

She rolled over and tickled him, jabbing at his sides. “So? You still did it, right?”

The two giggled and laughed, rolling around on the cliff face as Hinoka tried to tickle him and he tried to desperately escape. He scrambled to his feet, laughing and gasping for breath.

She stood up as well, resting a hand on his shoulder. It was a warm, bright morning. She looked out over the ledge at the forested hill they had just ascended. From here they could see the broad sweep of the valley, down the hill to the rice paddies and then to the market town, and then finally the tall spires of Castle Shirasagi.

Hinoka stood up straighter, brushing back her hair. She kept her hair long, tied back into a braid that reached just past her shoulder blades.

Kamui looked up at her, watching her eyes scan the valley.

“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” she said quietly. He nodded.

“It’s gonna be yours someday, right?” Kamui asked.

Hinoka shrugged. “No, Ryoma is the first of us in line.”

“The first in the line of…royal succession,” Kamui said.

“Very good!” Hinoka smiled. “Your pronunciation has gotten much better!” It was true. There was scarcely a hint of the accent he had brought with him when he and his mother arrived. He had been a quiet child, taking a long time to adjust to the language, but recently he was improving a lot.

“It doesn’t matter, though.” Hinoka took his hand a squeezed it. “Father is going to rule for a long, long time. And even if something did happen to him, we have mother, too.”

“Then it’s Ryoma?”

Hinoka nodded. “Then me, then you, then Takumi, then little Sakura.”

“B-but she’s just a baby!”

“So are _you_!” she jabbed his side and he giggled. He leaned into her and wrapped his tiny arms around her, squeezing tightly.

“I love you, big sister,” he said, burying his face into the fabric of her dress. He looked up into her eyes. “Nothing’s ever gonna come between us, right?”

 

-

 

Through a filter of dirty bangs, Hinoka stared up at her captor.

Black scale armor, trimmed in gold. An elegant violet cape, lined in royal blue silk. Dark red eyes under a head of white hair.

She closed her eyes again, exhaling slowly. “Kamui,” she said flatly.

“I told you. It’s Corrin now.” He was speaking Hoshidan, though in the intervening years his Nohrian accent had crept in.

She glared at him. “What do you want?”

He squatted in front of her, looking at her battered face. His eyes were still that same deep red, his slit pupils reptilian and inhuman. She knew now why that was.

“Is there anything I can get you? I’m sorry no one has been by to drop off food or water.”

She fought the urge to headbutt him. Deep breathing, mindful meditation. Calm.

“Can I at least take a look at your wound?”

She had shed every tear she had for him, and now she felt nothing. “Leave me alone,” she muttered.

He reached out to touch her shoulder and she snapped, shoving him backwards roughly. She got to her feet. “I have nothing to say to you. I want to speak to someone else.”

“Hinoka, please-“

She grasped his shoulder and slapped him with her other hand. He didn’t react. She hit him again.

“I hate you,” she said, lifting her hand a third time. He winced, just for a moment, and she lowered her arm.

“I know,” he said, lowering his gaze. “I’m sorry.”

“Not yet, you aren’t,” Hinoka growled.

“What do you want?” he took a step back, opening his palms in exasperation. “What can I possibly say to you to make this better?”

“Nothing!” she shouted. “There’s nothing you can do to fix this!”

“You have to understand,” he said calmly. “I had no-“

“There’s nothing to understand!” she was visibly shaking. “I loved you, Kamui. I…” she clenched her fist. “Every day I wrestled with my feelings, knowing that what I felt for my brother was disgusting. Abhorrent. But I didn’t care. I loved you. I…I would have given anything to be with you, Kamui. No matter what. No matter what people said about us, because you were worth it.” She closed her eyes. Corrin could see trickles of blood seeping from her clenched fists.

“When you returned to us, I thought that nothing in the world could ever tear us apart again. I was wrong.” She stepped towards him, glowering. Even now, she was taller than him. “I was wrong. What I felt for you was disgusting, but not because you were my brother. Because of _who you are as a person_.” She punctuated each word by pressing a sharp finger into his chest, almost pushing his back. She took a step back. “I hate myself most of all. For thinking that you were still the boy I loved.”

She leaned back against the wall of her cell. “This country poisons everything it touches. Its people most of all.” She frowned. “I was a fool to think you were exempt from that.”

Corrin said nothing. He stared at the floor, seemingly frozen.

 _Good_ , Hinoka thought. _I hope he feels even a fraction as awful as I do_.

“I’m sorry,” he said at last, still not looking up.

“No,” she shook her head. “You’re not.”

He sighed. “Hinoka…I don’t want to fight with you. Please, just…just cooperate, okay?”

“What do you want from me?” she snapped.

Corrin looked at her. “I need to know where your troops are stationed. That’s it. If you tell me that, I can let you go.”

Hinoka glared at him.

“Please,” he pleaded. “I don’t want this any more than you do. Just make it easy on yourself.”

“I would rather die.”

A commotion sounded in the hallway outside. A man burst into the room, decked out in the red-and-silver armor of a Nohrian cavalry rider.

“Sir, we have a situation!”

Corrin rubbed his temples. “Can it wait?”

“It’s the wyvern rider, sir. She’s back.”

That got a response. Corrin’s eyes lit up and he grasped the man’s shoulders. “What? Where is she?”

“She was flying in circles over the border wall, picking at our cavalry units. We just lost sight of her.”

“Bastard,” Corrin growled. “Go, get the archers mobilized. I’ll be up soon.” He turned back to Hinoka. “This isn’t over. Please, just…consider my offer.”

And with that, the door slammed shut on her cell and Hinoka was alone again. She slumped against the wall and slid down to a sitting position. She hugged her knees, ignoring the pain shooting up her side. She squeezed her eyes shut, tears of frustration spilling from the corners.

She had told herself she had no more tears to spend, but seeing his face again did away with that. She hated him, true. But above all she hated this country. The hard land and harder people, the toxic air that had turned her white knight into a force of black death. It touched everyone. Every Nohrian deserved death. For complacency, for being complicit in the atrocities inflicted by their leaders. For the refusal to stand up against what was happening, even when it was all too clear. A cowardly people, and as a result of that cowardice, heartless and sadistic.

She choked back a sob. She wanted to go home. She missed the sun.

“Hey, there.”

She looked up, wiping her eyes. She brushed back her grimy bangs to see where the voice had come from.

A face was pressed against the window, a bright grin underneath freckled cheeks and a button nose. Brown eyes under short blonde hair tied back with a dark blue bow. The woman pressed her face against the bars and peered into the darkness. “Need a lift?”

 


	2. Chapter 2

The woman poked her nose through the bars and scanned the cell. “Hello? Anyone in there?” She spoke Nohrian, but with an accent Hinoka couldn’t quite place.

“I’m down here,” Hinoka said from below the window, confused. She slowly lurched to her feet, clutching her wounded side. “What…?”

“Oh, there you are!” the woman grinned. “I thought I had the right cell. Look, I’m gonna get you out of here.”

“Wait, who are you-“ Hinoka started to ask, but the woman was gone. Hinoka tried to look out the window and see what was happening. She looked left, then right.

In the moonlight, she could see very little except the lot of grass that ended in a treeline a few yards away. Her cell was presumably at the bottom of the great stone wall that marked the border between Nohr and Hoshido, but she wasn’t sure. At any rate, the woman had disappeared.

She let out a groan and grasped her side. “Holy gods, that hurts…” she mumbled. She peeled the fabric of the dress away from her skin, breaking the crust of dried blood that had formed as she did. She winced. The arrow wound looked pretty awful – she had pried it out in a moment of panic, and as a result the head had torn through her skin and now the blood was drying to a stomach-turning brown. She closed her eyes and tried to suppress another groan.

It had been easier to ignore when she was sitting still.

The face appeared at the window again, this time using deft hands to loop a metal hook attached to a rope around the bars. Hinoka shouted in surprise.

“Hey! What are you doing?!”

“Shh! I told you,” the woman said. “I’m getting you out of here.”

“Wh-“ Hinoka sputtered, confused. “Who are you? What are you doing here?”

“The names’ Scarlet,” Scarlet said. “We caught wind of a high-profile prisoner imprisoned here, and we came to bust you out.”

“We? Who’s ‘we’? What do you mean, bust me out?”

“The resistance! Keep with the program, sweetie,” Scarlet said, tying the rope into a knot.

“Sorry,” Hinoka said sarcastically, offended. “I’ve had a bit of a long day.”

Scarlet bit her lip and checked her handiwork. She gave it a sturdy tug.

“What are you doing?” Hinoka asked, taking a cautious step towards the window.

“Pulling the window out!” Scarlet grinned.

“Are you serious?!” Hinoka hissed, looking back at her cell door. Evidently no one had heard the commotion yet, but…

Scarlet tapped the stone bricks with her finger. She traced one hand along a seam of mortar. “The mortar was mixed with sugar so it wouldn’t set properly.” She smacked the wall. “Won’t take more than a good tug to bring this baby down.”

“How do you know that?”

Scarlet smirked. “Who do you think built these walls?”

Hinoka tilted her head.

A shout sounded from outside, followed by more shouts and a whinnying of horses.

“Oh, shit,” Scarlet swore. “Uh, hold on real quick.” She disappeared from the window.

Hinoka stared, still somewhat in shock of the events transpiring before her.

Scarlet appeared at the window again. “Actually, you might wanna stand back.” She vanished again.

_What in the gods’ names is going on?_ Hinoka stepped back, as told. She watched the rope tighten, go taught, and pull.

“Idiot,” she muttered. The wall was less than a foot thick, but it was still solid stone. Even if the mortar was weak, no amount of pulling could possibly –

The wall cracked, a split breaking open along the mortar in a rough square around the window. As Scarlet had promised, it didn’t take more than a tug for the window to come out, breaking free of the wall in a shower of broken half-bricks and dusty mortar. Hinoka stared at the opening broken into the cell wall, amazed that it had worked at all.

Beyond the opening, Scarlet sat astride a massive winged wyvern, the beast tied to the other end of the rope. So that was how she pulled it. Scarlet used a small hatchet from her belt to chop the rope, freeing the wyvern from its connection to the now-collapsed window. She looked at Hinoka expectantly.

“Well? What are you waiting for?”

It clicked for Hinoka. She staggered towards the hole, still clutching her side. She stumbled, tripping on the loose pile of bricks and landing heavily into the debris. She struggled to push herself to her feet.

“Come on, come on!” Scarlet shouted. The voices were getting closer, and Hinoka looked up from her rubble pile to see torches moving through the woods beyond. “Get a move on!”

Hinoka winced, crying out as she stood, took a step, then fell again.

Scarlet groaned and leapt down from her mount, rushing to Hinoka’s side. “You didn’t tell me you were injured!”

“You didn’t ask!” Hinoka shouted back. Scarlet wrapped an arm around her shoulder to support her and the two slowly made their way towards the wyvern. A few arrows clattered harmlessly off the stone wall above them. Scarlet grunted and moved her arm to Hinoka’s waist, partially picking her up to move them faster.

It was only a few yards, but each step felt like an eternity, between the pain from the wound and the strong awareness of the advancing border guard. Scarlet helped Hinoka mount the wyvern before climbing up herself, wrapping the leather reins around her fists.

They took off just as the soldiers emerged from the woods, shouting and pointing at Scarlet.

With two great flaps, the wyvern was in the air, beating the wind down at the assembled men. Scarlet smiled at them and offered a salute.

“Catch you later, boys!” she taunted before digging her heels into her stirrups and yanking the reins, making the wyvern dart skywards.

Hinoka clutched to Scarlet’s cold red armor with abject terror. She had fought wyverns, sure, but she had never ridden one. No amount of pegasus experience could compare to the sheer weight and power behind each of the beast’s massive wingbeats. With each flap Hinoka felt like she was going to be thrown from the saddle.

Scarlet laughed, leaning out and looking down at the guards they had just escaped. Several had tried shooting arrows at them but they were already far out of range. Scarlet leaned back and sighed, stifling her laughs.

Hinoka tried to get a sense of her bearings.

They were still ascending, high above the fortress that marked the border gate between Hoshido and Nohr. Above the fortress, Hinoka could see more wyverns mobilizing.

Scarlet guided her own wyvern forward, urging them deeper into Nohrian territory. The sky was dark and cloudless above, and below the forests grew thicker and denser. And they were still rising, heading up into the cold night. Far higher than a pegasus was comfortable going.

Hinoka winced, her side sparking with pain again. “Scarlet, was it?” she spoke through gritted teeth.

“That’s me!” Scarlet said.

“You have to take me back to Hoshido!”

Scarlet turned her head. “What? You’re Hoshidan?!”

Hinoka frowned, taken aback. “L-look at me!” she cried, exasperated. “What did you think?!”

Scarlet frowned, turning her attention back to steering her wyvern. “Shit,” she swore.

“What?”

“I…we must have gotten some bad intel,” she explained, her voice hoarse in the harsh wind. “We thought they had captured one of our people.”

“ _Your_ people?”

“Shit,” Scarlet swore again. “I didn’t know you were a prisoner of war. Oh man, they’re not gonna let me off the hook easily for this one.” She looked over her shoulder, checking past Hinoka into the dark sky behind them. She scowled at the winged black silhouettes in the distance. “Keep an eye on our backside, okay? Let me know if they’re getting close.”

Hinoka shook her head. “No! You have to take me back to-agh!” she let one hand slip from Scarlet’s abdomen and clutched her side. She felt herself starting to slip, her one weak hand not enough to keep her in place.

Scarlet frowned and reached down, clasping Hinoka’s hand to her stomach tightly. “Hold on there, okay? You can’t just go letting go of me like that!”

Hinoka nodded and blinked back tears. The pain that had been tolerable while sitting still and unpleasant while moving had become far, far worse on the back of the continuously shifting wyvern. She could feel her side growing damp as the wound re-opened.

“I-“ she mumbled, feeling unconsciousness clouding her vision. “Sc-Scarlet, I’m-“

“Don’t understand you, sweetie!” Scarlet snapped. “Nohrian please!”

“I…” Despite her best effort, her vision went dark.

 

Scarlet wrapped both hands around the reins tightly, trying to urge her wyvern forward. Whatever her companion’s problem was, it could wait until they were safe. “Come on, come on,” she whispered to her wyvern. “We can do this.”

She felt the hand at her abdomen slip away. She growled and grasped it tightly again. “I thought I told you to hang on!”

At that moment Hinoka’s unconscious body fell sideways from the back of the wyvern, her hand slipping out of Scarlet’s grasp.

Scarlet stared at the crumpled body tumbling towards the ground.

Without hesitation she sprang into action. She slapped her wyvern’s neck and leapt from its back, diving towards the ground. “You’d better catch us, you hear!” She shouted at the rapidly shrinking beast.

She collided with Hinoka’s body mid-air, reaching out and scrabbling frantically to grab a hold of her. Hinoka’s red hair flapped wildly in the wind and she let out a soft groan as Scarlet grabbed her. Scarlet rolled, trying to make a visual confirmation that her wyvern was indeed obeying her orders.

He tended to be just a rash as her, sometimes.

She clutched Hinoka’s body to hers and scanned the dark sky frantically. Her mount was nowhere to be seen. She twisted her head back and forth, scanning the sky and briefly eyeing the rapidly approaching forest below. _Where was he?_

“Oh, that mother f-“ her curse was interrupted as she collided with something. Not the ground, they were far too high up for that.

She hit the back of her wyvern and immediately bounced, almost falling again before she managed to grab ahold of one of the leather straps keeping the saddle secure. With one hand holding on tight to the strap and the other dangling unconscious body beneath her, she pulled the wyvern sideways. The weight must have been throwing off his balance.

“Sorry about this!” she shouted, her voice being snatched away by the wind. The wyvern shook its reptilian head and snorted.

“Oh, don’t give me that!” she protested, trying to haul herself up with one free hand. The wyvern snorted again.

“Listen, we’ve done this before!”

Another snort, snippy and disdainful.

“I know that was just me, but it’s not like she weighs very much!”

The wyvern banked into a barrel roll, tossing Scarlet and Hinoka into the air. She landed with an “oof!” on its back, narrowly managing to keep Hinoka from sliding off for a second time. They were safe, at least for the moment.

Scarlet frowned. “Hm…” she scanned her saddle, looking for any solution to the unconscious woman. She ended up settling for struggling to heave Hinoka into her lap, allowing Scarlet wrap her arms around her to both hold her tight and keep ahold of the reins. Her unconscious head lolled back, bouncing against Scarlet’s shoulder.

“Alright, buddy,” she called to her wyvern. “Let’s find somewhere to set down for now.”

The wyvern skimmed the top of the trees above the forest, looking for a clear spot to land in. As it circled, Scarlet checked Hinoka’s vitals. Still breathing, heart still beating. Good. Side seeping blood? Not good. She took off her clawed metal gauntlets and slipped them into a saddlebag before untying the cloth ribbon in her hair. She wrapped it around Hinoka’s abdomen and tied it tightly, grimacing as the blue fabric turned brown, blood seeping into it.

She looked skywards. At least their little crisis had put their pursuers off their trail. She laughed. “It’s not like they were expecting us to suddenly drop at a ninety degree angle, right?”

Her wyvern shook his head.

They flew a descending circle over a clearing in the woods, finally touching down in a meadow full of heather. Scarlet leapt down from her mount, catching Hinoka as she slumped off the wyvern’s back. She gently laid Hinoka down in the grass and turned her attention to her wyvern.

“You okay?” she patted its side. “Sorry, that got a little out of hand, huh?” The wyvern bent his head around towards her and sniffed her. She smiled, reaching up a hand and petting his snout. He snorted, shooting a jet of hot air that ruffled her hair and made her jump.

“Okay, okay,” she laughed. “I deserved that one.” She crouched in the grass and surveyed her unconscious cargo.

“She never gave me a name, did she?” she asked into the air, knowing she would get no response. Obviously Hoshidan, though here on the border looks didn’t count for everything – people of all sorts lived on both sides of the wall. Her clothing was the biggest hint – traditional Hoshidan garb, a white-and-red sleeveless dress tied with teal tassels. One side was torn to hell, Scarlet’s makeshift bandage the only thing keeping the blood from still flowing from the injured flesh. Cautiously, Scarlet lifted the blue fabric and looked at the wound. She grimaced.

The wound was terrible, an ugly and sloppy section of torn flesh that Scarlet immediately identified. “Idiot,” she muttered. “She tried to yank an arrow out.” She poked at the skin around the wound. It was tender, a sickly greyish color. As she did, Hinoka groaned.

“Okay,” Scarlet nodded. “Don’t do that. Noted.” She stood up and paced to her wyvern’s side. He had curled up into a circle, keeping his wings in tight. She stepped over his tail and began digging through her saddlebags. She hadn’t expected any of this to happen. They’re done prisoner extraction before, and it usually went off without a hitch. But the fact that she was Hoshidan…

She withdrew a worn paper map and began to scan it with a finger. “Okay, we left the border about here, and then…” she frowned. “Hm. So we’re still about half a day’s ride from Cheve.” She gulped, looking nervously at Hinoka’s body, sprawled in the grass, motionless. “You think she’ll be alright?” she asked.

Her wyvern made a noncommittal whine.

“You said it,” Scarlet agreed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh boy it's winter break, which means it's time for me to post a whole bunch of updates with no consistency whatsoever! 
> 
> Anyway, enjoy a bit more Scarlet in this chapter!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A couple quick notes!  
> I'm having fun writing characters with a bit of a language barrier, so I'm going to start using italics to denote Hoshidan speaking and plain text for Nohrian. 
> 
> Some new villains introduced in this one, too! 
> 
> PS, anyone know if Scarlet's wyvern has a name? If not I'm gonna call him Cormag.

Hinoka smiled at Kamui warmly across the table. He seemed to be struggling with using chopsticks. She giggled and covered her mouth.

“Don’t make fun of me,” he pouted. “I’ve been using forks and knives for most of my life!”

“It’s just funny,” Hinoka said, deftly eating her own food. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t laugh.” She sighed, turning. “ _You really should eat something, Takumi_.”

Takumi picked at his food, not eating anything. He frowned. “ _I have no appetite if we’re to be dining with him_.”

Hinoka shot him a glare. “ _Takumi, please. He’s your brother_.”

Takumi tensed his muscles and Hinoka could tell he was clenching his hands into fists. “He is not my brother,” he said, making it perfectly clear he intended for Kamui to understand.

From the head of the table, Ryoma held up a hand. “Please, Takumi. Not at the table.”

Takumi stood up, roughly pushing his chair out and rattling the table settings as he did. “ _I’m not hungry. I’ll be in my room_.”

“Takumi!” Hinoka called after him. “Don’t-!” She stifled a frustrated groan. “I’m sorry, Kamui. He can be a little…rough, sometimes.”

“It’s okay,” Kamui smiled. “I understand. If someone showed up on my doorstep with no warning, I’d be suspicious too. In fact, I’d be more surprised if he wasn’t a little wary. As a prince, he’s sure to attract all sorts of dangers. I’d just like to hope he can one day look past his initial judgement of me.”

“That’s our Kamui,” Ryoma smiled. “Always seeing the best in everyone.” He chewed thoughtfully. “You’re wrong, though. Danger is scarce to be found in Shirasagi. Thanks in part to mother’s magic, but also we simply treat our people well. We have no need to fear them if they have no reason to resent us.”

Kamui frowned. “Surely someone in Hoshido holds disdain for the queen.”

Ryoma laughed. “If they do, they keep quiet about it.”

“A few of the territories we annexed don’t care for us,” Hinoka pointed out. “But those regions view us with more…distaste rather than hatred.”

“It’s so different here,” Kamui said. He tried to pick up a piece of fish with his chopsticks and failed.

“Here, let me help you,” Hinoka smiled. She leaned across the table and picked up his fish in her own chopsticks. She held it up to him, making eye contact as he took the bite.

His eyes, those piercing red eyes that hadn’t lost their luster even in the long years. Not even the darkness of Nohr could dull those sparkling rubies. She stared, losing herself in the fantasy she had held for years, now made manifest before her.

“B-big sister?” Kamui asked, slightly uncomfortable.

Hinoka realized she was still leaning across the table, poking an empty pair of chopsticks in his face. She sat down, embarrassed. “ _I’m sorry_ ,” she said, blushing. “I just…I can’t believe you’re really back.”

 

-

 

Corrin paced back and forth on the battlements of the fort, scowling. He was in a foul mood. The news of the wyvern rider’s success and Hinoka’s escape had made his anxiety shoot through the roof, and on top of it all, Garon was sending another general to check on his progress.

He closed his eyes and inhaled slowly, trying to remember the exercises Azura had taught him. Count to ten.

Though he tried to bury it, he was livid. Every slip-up meant a chance of failing his father, and that meant death. He had botched every mission he had been sent on, in one way or another. Quelling this rebellion was his last shot. And that gods-damned wyvern rider was mucking it up yet again. He balled his hands into fists.

No, calm. He corrected himself, letting his loose hands fall to his side. He opened his eyes and stared out at the forest spread below the fort. In the distance, tucked along the edge of the forest, lay Cheve. And somewhere between here and there were his targets. Somewhere in the miles of tangled brush and trees.

If the wyvern rider made it back to Cheve, she would vanish into the underground. That’s what made it all the more infuriating – she appeared out of nowhere to strike at them then would vanish again. He had no idea what she looked like outside her distinct scarlet armor, so she could blend into the population with ease. He sighed.

“Milord,” a voice came from behind him. “I’ve gathered volunteers, as you requested.”

“Thank you, Jakob,” Corrin said, clapping a hand on his butler’s shoulder.

“I already briefed them, milord,” Jakob said, pleased with himself. “If you’d like, I can dispatch them immediately.”

Corrin rubbed his temples. “Good. But…I must know, Jakob. Who volunteered for the job?”

Jakob pursed his lips. “Permission to speak freely, sir?”

“Of course.”

“They’re right bastards, milord. Exactly the type you would expect to volunteer for a manhunt.”

Corrin groaned. “Alright, run down the list.”

Jakob nodded, consulting his worn leather notebook. “We have a cavalry unit, a mercenary, a wyvern rider, and an archer.”

Corrin hummed. It wasn’t a bad balance of troops, all things considered. A healer would be nice, but that would mean sending Elise or Felicia, both of which were out of the question. “Make sure you send vulneraries with them,” he said. “Three each just in case.”

“Very good, milord,” Jakob made a note.

“I’m going to go out on a limb here and guess that we have Peri, Selena, Beruka, and Niles?” Corrin was starting to regret asking for volunteers. This crack squad of soldiers was going to turn this operation into a bloodbath without proper supervision. Right bastards, indeed. But who else would volunteer to hunt down a wounded girl? Corrin grimaced, glad that he was delegating the nasty business. With luck, his plan for quelling the rebellion peacefully would work, provided he fix this little indiscretion.

Say what you will, he thought. They’re good at what they do.

“They’ll be meeting up with Charlotte and Benny, the captains of the guard at Cheve,” Jakob said, as if reading his mind. “They will ensure that it doesn’t get too out of hand.” Jakob checked his notes. “Oh, and Peri wanted me to let you know that she’s very upset with your decision to not let her kill either target. She asked if maiming was acceptable.”

Corrin groaned. “Only if absolutely necessary,” he said, knowing Peri’s definition of ‘necessary’ was ‘she wanted to’. Gods, did he not envy Hinoka.

“Very good, milord,” Jakob nodded. “Shall I dispatch them at once?”

“Yes,” Corrin sat down on the edge of the battlement, dangling his bare feet in the open night air. He leaned back, sighing. “I’m going to regret this, aren’t I?”

 

-

 

A hot flash of pain brought Hinoka back to the waking world. She jolted upright and cried out. She was laying on the hard ground. It was still dark, the bright sky above dotted with pinpoints of light.

Scarlet looked up from the fire she was tending, surprised.

Hinoka pushed to her feet and staggered towards her.

“Woah, woah!” Scarlet dropped her fire-pokin’ stick and rushed to Hinoka’s side, catching her before she fell again. “Slow down there!”

“ _Wh_ -“ Hinoka sputtered, clutching desperately to Scarlet’s armor. “ _Where am I_?”

Scarlet grimaced at her. “Look, sweetie – you really need to remember that I don’t speak your language.”

Hinoka squinted. “ _Idiot_ ,” she muttered.

Scarlet frowned. “That sounded rude.”

“Sorry,” Hinoka said, pushing herself off Scarlet and trying to stand on her own two feet. “I forgot.”

“Yeah,” Scarlet shrugged. “Look, you might wanna just lay down. I patched your side up as best I could, but I’m no doctor.”

So that explained the pain. Hinoka remembered it, now. Her capture, her escape, riding on the wyvern, then…?

“What happened? Why did we stop flying?”

“Someone,” Scarlet said, sitting back down at the fire. “Decided to pass out and fall off my wyvern.”

Hinoka pointed to herself. “Me.”

“Yeah, that was you,” Scarlet laughed. “Really, though, you should lay down.”

Hinoka crossed to the fire and sat across from Scarlet instead, ignoring the smarting pain in her side. She felt kind of fuzzy, like each of her movements were a little more sluggish than she’d like.

“What’s your name, sweetie?” Scarlet asked without looking up.

“Uh…H-Hinoka,” Hinoka said uncertainly.

Scarlet nodded and set a metal pan into the fire. “Like the Hoshidan princess, eh?”

“Something like that,” Hinoka smirked. She crossed her arms. Behind her curled lips, she was clenching her teeth, hoping desperately that her pain wasn’t showing.

Scarlet dug through her pack and withdrew a huge hunk of meat wrapped in wax paper. She unwrapped it and threw it on the pan. It sizzled and crackled. Hinoka watched in silence, most of her concentration devoted to not falling over.

“You don’t have to put on a show for me, princess,” Scarlet said, poking the meat. “Honestly, lay down. I’m not gonna hurt you.”

“Like I have any reason to trust you,” Hinoka said, unfolding her arms and planting her hands in the dirt to support herself.

“I freed you, didn’t I?” Scarlet flipped the meat. “That’s gotta count for something.”

“You’re a Nohrian,” Hinoka said. “Why would you be helping me?”

“I’m not,” Scarlet snipped. Her eyes were suddenly dark, almost angry. “I’m Chevois.”

Hinoka tried to remember what that meant. Ryoma had been the one in charge of all that political knowledge. “You’re from…?” Hinoka asked cautiously.

“I’m from Cheve,” Scarlet sighed.

Hinoka scowled. Cheve? Chevois? Why not Chevian? She sniffed, her stomach aching. She still hadn’t eaten anything since her capture. “Is that dinner?” she asked, gesturing towards the sizzling meat.

“Not for you,” Scarlet said. She flipped the meat again.

That seemed a little rude, Hinoka thought. To her surprise, Scarlet grabbed the handle of the pan and jerked it up, flinging the meat over her shoulder. “Dinner!” she called.

Hinoka stared, awestruck, as a set of massive fanged jaws opened in the darkness behind Scarlet, a reptilian mouth snatched the meat out of the air.

“He eats first,” Scarlet explained. “Besides, he needs the meat more than we do. I don’t want him running off to hunt, especially if we’re this close to the Nohrian patrols.”

The wyvern licked its lips, massive pink tongue flitting out in an almost cat-like fashion. It snaked its head down and laid next to Scarlet, who reached out a hand to…scratch behind its ears? Hinoka had never been so up close and personal with a wyvern before. The closest she had gotten before meeting this woman was exactly one spear-length away.

“Unfortunately, that was the last of the meat,” Scarlet said, returning the pan to the fire. She tilted the pan and watched the fat drippings pooling along one side.

“What about us?” Hinoka asked, painfully aware of the stabbing ache in her stomach as well as her side. She reached a cautious hand to her side and touched herself. Even through the torn fabric of her dress, the skin felt tender and swollen. She let out a sharp hiss.

“Don’t poke it,” Scarlet chided her. “I hadn’t planned on eating, but you probably need something, right?” She tilted the pan and poured the fat drippings into the fire, the smell of which made Hinoka even hungrier. Scarlet began rummaging through her bag again. “Uh…I also don’t have anything else. Can you make it another few hours?”

Hinoka took stock of her body. Hungry, to the point of aching weakness. Feverish, sluggish. Arrow wound in her side, yet to be sterilized, most likely infected at this point. She nodded. “Yeah, I can make it.”

Scarlet smiled. “You got quite the spirit, don’t you, princess?”

“Why are you calling me that?” Hinoka frowned.

“Oh, your name. It’s…it’s the Hoshidan princess’ name, so I…” Scarlet frowned. “Do they not do nicknames in Hoshido?”

Hinoka breathed a sigh of relief. So she hadn’t figured it out yet. Good.

The wyvern suddenly perked up, ears swiveling as he scanned back and forth through the trees. His beady reptilian eyes bore holes into the forest and he let out a short huff.

“Shit,” Scarlet swore. She kicked dirt over the fire enough to quell the flames, then stomped on the coals. “They caught up a lot faster than I was hoping they would.”

“We’re still being chased?!” Hinoka shouted. “Why the hell’d we stop for dinner then?!”

“He was hungry,” Scarlet explained, securing her bags to the wyvern’s saddle.

“And he couldn’t make it a few more hours?”

“He’s the one who does the flying, so I’m not the one to make that call,” Scarlet said. She kicked out the last smoldering embers and helped Hinoka to her feet. “Come on, we need to high-tail it out of here.”

Hinoka managed to stay conscious through take-off, but not by much. Between the hunger, fatigue, and pain, she welcomed blacking out as a relief. She didn’t trust Scarlet, but at this point it was beyond her control. If it were to come to a fight, she would pretty much lose to a stiff breeze, so – for now, at least – she would have to go along with what the spunky knight said. She only hoped that her skill actually matched her cocky attitude. And so she let herself be overtaken by the soft, comforting blackness.

Scarlet had prepared for this, fortunately, and had strapped Hinoka’s legs into the saddle. She smiled, proud that her handiwork kept Hinoka secure – even if her swaying back and forth made Scarlet a little nervous. She kept glancing over their backside, eyeing the trees below nervously. She was fast, but she also didn’t know who pursued them. Unknown variables were usually Scarlet's forte, but juggling unknown pursuers and an unconscious saddle-mate made her a little uncomfortable.

She tried to keep low, skimming above the treetops, urging her wyvern forward into the night. On the horizon, she could see the trees give way to the square tops of buildings. Almost home.


End file.
